Bhartiya Krishi Anusandhan Patrika, volume 33 issue 4 (december 2018) : 243-248

Indian seaweed resources: their availability and importance

Ganesh Temkar, Arti Joshi, A.J. bhatt
1<p>College of fisheries science, Junagadh Agricultural University, Veraval, Gujarat-362 265, India</p>
Cite article:- Temkar Ganesh, Joshi Arti, bhatt A.J. (NaN). Indian seaweed resources: their availability and importance . Bhartiya Krishi Anusandhan Patrika. 33(4): 243-248. doi: 10.18805/BKAP127.

The plant species which were found along the sea – shore was called as “seaweed”. They were reported all along the Indian coastal state waters in variable amount. Among all these Indian coastal states Tamil nadu and Gujarat states contributes more seaweed resource. Seaweed were mainly found along the coastal waters of the ocean. According to colouration and pigmentation in plants they were classified in three categories; i.e. Red, Brown and Green seaweed. The various reports were reported that seaweed are utilized for many different purposes all along the world. They were mainly utilized for food, medicine, fertilizers etc. in this review article authors were discussed  about the availability of seaweed resources along Indian waters and the mineral and proximate composition of commercially important seaweed species, which represents seaweed is one of the most important resource in future and so in future this scenario will ultimately causes the utilization and demand of seaweed was going on increasing, not only along Asian countries but also from all over the world. The Indian waters consideration represents, there was very less importance was given to seaweed as that of other oceanic resource, but in future India also going to give importance to seaweed mainly because over-fishing/ over-harvesting of other oceanic resources like fishes, shell fishes, mammals etc. from Indian oceanic waters. so all these thing together concluded that in future seaweed will became as one of the best alternative option for human beings.


  1. Chapman, V. J. (1970). Seaweeds and their uses. (2nd edn.), The Camelot Press Ltd., Methuen & Co Ltd., London and Southampton, pp. 63-85.

  2. Denis, C., Morançais, M., Li, M., Deniaud, E., Gaudin, P., Wielgosz-Collin, G., Barnathan, G., Jaouen, P. and Fleurence, J. (2010). Study of the chemical composition of edible red macroalgae Grateloupia turuturu from Brittany (France). Food Chemistry,119(3): 913-    917. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2009.07.047.

  3. Hawkins, S. J. and Hartnoll, R. G. (1983). Grazing of intertidal algae by marine invertebrates. Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review, 21: 195–282.

  4. Jha, B., Reddy, C. R. K., Thakur, M. C. and Rao, M. U. (2009). Seaweeds of India, the Diversity and Distribution of Seaweeds of Gujarat Coast. Developments in Applied Phycology, Springer, Dordrecht, 3(12): pp. 216.

  5. Karthik, P., Mohanraju, R., Ramesh, C. and Murthy, K.N. (2013). Distribution and diversity of seaweeds in North and South Andaman Island. Seaweed Research and Utilization, 35(1&2): 8-16.

  6. Karthikai Devi, G., Thirumaran, G., Manivannan, K. and Anantharaman, P. (2009). Element Composition of Certain Seaweeds from Gulf of Mannar Marine Biosphere Reserve; Southeast Coast of India. World Journal of Dairy & Food Sciences, 4(1): 46-55.

  7. Krishnamurthy, V. (2005). Seaweeds: Wonder plants of the sea. Aquaculture Foundation of India, pp. 30.

  8. Krishnamurthy, V. and Joshi, H. V. (1970). A check-list of Indian marine algae. Central Salt &Marine Chemicals Research Institute, Bhavnagar, p. 36.

  9. Kumar, S., Sahoo, D. and Levine, I. (2015). Assessment of nutritional value in a brown seaweed Sargassum wightii and their seasonal variations. Algal Research, 9: 117-125. DOI: 10.1016/j.algal.2015.02.024.

  10. Levering, T., Hoppe, H. A. and Schmid, O. J. (1969). Marine Algae. A survey of research and Utilization. Granm be Gruyter & Co., Hamburg, pp. 1-421.

  11. Manivannan, K., Karthikai Devi, G., Thirumaran, G. and Anantharaman, P. (2008). Mineral Composition of Marine Macroalge from Mandapam Coastal Regions; Southeast Coast of India.American-Eurasian Journal of Botany, 1(2): 58-67.

  12. Marinho-Soriano, E., Fonseca, P. C., Carneiro, M. A. A. and Moreira, W. S. C. (2006). Seasonal variation in the chemical composition of two tropical seaweeds. Bioresource Technology, 97(18): 2402-2406. DOI: 10.1016/j. biortech. 2005.10.014.

  13. McDermid, K. J. and Stuercke, B. (2003). Nutritional composition of edible Hawaiian seaweeds. Journal of Applied Phycology, 15(6): 513–524. 

  14. Naik, U. G., Beligiriranga, V. and Haragi, S. B. (2015). Seaweeds of Karwar Bay, Arabian Sea, West Coast of India - A Diversity Profile. International Journal of Science and Nature, 6(4): 728-732.

  15. Oza, R. M. and Zaidi, S. H. (2000). A revised checklist of Indian marine algae. Central Salt and MarineChemicals Research Institute, Bhavnagar, pp. 296.

  16. Parthiban, C., Saranya, C., Girija, K., Hemalatha, A., Suresh, M. and Anantharaman, P. (2013). Biochemical composition of some selected seaweeds from Tuticorin coast. Advances in Applied Science Research, 4(3): 362-366.

  17. Pawar, P.R. (2017). Distribution Pattern and Species Diversity of Seaweeds at Uran (Navi Mumbai), West Coast of India. International Journal of Pure and Applied Zoology, 5(1): 25-32.

  18. Pereira, N. and Almeida, M. R. (2014). A preliminary checklist of marine algae from the coast of Goa. Indian Journal of Geo-Marine Sciences, 43(4): 655-665.

  19. Ramalingam, J. R., Kaliaperumal, N. and Kalimuthu, S. (2000). Seaweed exploitation in India. Seaweed Research and Utilization, 22(1&2): 75-80.

  20. Rao, P.V.S. Mantri, V. A. and Ganesan, K. (2007). Mineral composition of edible seaweed Porphyra vietnamensis. Food Chemistry, 102(1): 215-218. DOI: 10.1016/    j.foodchem.2006.05.009

  21. Rode, S. and Sabale, A. (2015). Diversity of seaweeds from Malvan and Kunakeshwar in Sindhudurg District of Maharashtra. Indian Journal of Applied Research, 5(9): 413-415.

  22. Rodrigues, D., Freitas, A. C., Pereira, L., Rocha-Santos, T.A.P., Vasconcelos, M. W., Roriz, M., Rodríguez-Alcalá, L. M., Gomes, A.M. P. and Duarte, A. C. (2015). Chemical composition of red, brown and green macroalgae from Buarcos bay in Central West Coast of Portugal.Food Chemistry, 183: 197-207. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2015.03.057.

  23. Rohani-Ghadikolaei, K., Abdulalian, E. and Ng, W. K. (2012). Evaluation of the proximate, fatty acid andmineral composition of representative green, brown and red seaweeds from the Persian Gulf of Iran as potential food and feed resources. Journal of Food Science and Technology, 49(6): 774–780. DOI: 10.1007 %2 Fs13197-010-0220-0.

  24. Roy, S., Salvi, H., Brahmbhat, B., Vaghela, N., Das, L. and Pathak, B. (2015). Diversity and distribution of seaweeds in selected reefs and island in Gulf of Kachchh. Seaweed Research and Utilization, 37(1): 12-19.

  25. Rupérez, P. (2002). Mineral content of edible marine seaweeds. Food Chemistry, 79(1): 23-26. DOI: 10.1016/S0308-8146(02)00171-1.

  26. Sahayaraj, K., Rajesh, S., Asha, A., Rathi, J. M. and Raja, P. (2014). Distribution and diversity assessment of the marine microalgae at four southern districts of Tamil Nadu, India. Indian Journal of Geo-Marine Sciences, 43(4): 607-616.

  27. Sakthivel, R. and Devi, K.P. (2015). Evaluation of physicochemical properties, proximate and nutritional composition of Gracilariaedulis collected from Palk Bay. Food Chemistry, 174: 68-74. DOI: 10.1016/j. foodchem.2014.10.142.

  28. Syad, A. N., Shunmugiah, K. P. and Kasi, P. D. (2013). Seaweeds as nutritional supplements: Analysis of nutritional profile, physicochemical properties and proximate composition of G. acerosa and S. wightii. Biomedicine & Preventive Nutrition, 3(2): 139-144. DOI: 10.1016/    j.bionut.2012.12.002.

  29. Veeragurunathan, V. and Sujatha, G. (2013). Seasonal changes in distribution and standing crop of marine algae at Rameswaram coast, Tamil Nadu.Seaweed Research and Utilization, 35(1&2): 41-54.

Editorial Board

View all (0)